Passing Through Paradise
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
"In Paradise I stumbled onto a dead body,
found my new mother, and was almost murdered."
In the fall of 1989, young Angela Kiln and her father move to the slowly dying town of Paradise. Once they settle into small town life, Angela and her father, a high school teacher, find that the town isn´t the only thing dying — so, apparently, are students. As Angela and her father seek the truth behind the deaths, they will also face the truth about their own deepest beliefs.
Part suspenseful mystery, part sentimental journey, Passing Through Paradise is an alternately funny, gripping, and frightening account of a young girl, her still-grieving father, and a town that refuses to recognize the future. Filled with an unforgettable cast of characters, Passing Through Paradise dramatically reveals the best and worst of human nature, illuminated against a scathing indictment of an American small town.
This new edition of Passing Through Paradise includes a discussion guide for book clubs. Other novels that take place in Schreiber’s Ironwood County include Hillcrest Journal and Life on the Fly.
"Passing through Paradise is tough to put down. The themes are masterfully interwoven."
— Ruth Hanson, Byron Review
" . . . a suspenseful story told with insight, humor, conviction, and compassion."
— Andrew Johanson, Paradise Post, Ironwood County, Minnesota
"Schreiber has a wide range of imagination and the talent to put it into words. . . . His imagination invents word pictures that spark the mind to envision a screen larger than Hollywood is capable of."
– News-Enterprise, December 1, 2004
Helpful Link:
Schreiber has posted some of his published articles, essays, and poems along with book group discussion questions for Passing Through Paradise at John Schreiber´s Books
Customer Reviews
Great novel that should appeal to wide audience
I reread this novel and my opinion (which was already high) went even higher. First, Schreiber creates an exciting plot dealing with death in a small town (Is it suicide--why? Or murder--who?). Secondly, Schreiber adds fantastic small-town characters and emotionally-conflicted central characters. Next, Schreiber adds some universal themes such as the nature of change, grief, and forgiveness. Finally, Schreiber twists the plot in unexpected ways (but if you're a careful reader, everything is foreshadowed cleverly, so you may catch it--I didn't on the first reading). Then, just to make sure that you know he cares about the whole project, he writes with some of the cleanest prose I've read in years.
Overall, this is an honest novel with some Christian (and non-Christian) characters. Too bad it's promoted some places as a Christian novel. That's bad marketing. Instead it's a great novel with a Christian character--read it and you'll see what I mean.
This book is for those who have been looking for a solidly written, realistic novel with believable characters. It has a bit of everything: humor, romance, suspense, action, mystery, and great characters.